What happened

The window opened at midday on Wednesday 11 November 2026, as James Murray reported for BusinessGreen. According to the government's Find a Grant listing, it is the next round of a £170 million programme running from April 2026 to 2030, which followed a pilot in 2025/26. This round has a £38m budget for projects built in 2027/28.

  • What it pays: 60% of chargepoint and civil costs, up to £1 million across all sites, with any number of sites in one application.
  • One bid each: each organisation may submit only one application as lead applicant in this window.
  • How it is decided: first come, first served, or competitively if the round is oversubscribed. The government aims to make all award decisions by 28 May 2027.
  • Deadlines: applications close at midday on 26 February 2027; works must be finished by 31 March 2028.

Applicants must have operated in the UK for at least a year, own or lease a depot, run or plan to run at least one battery electric van, HGV or coach, show they have enough grid capacity (or a plan to get it), and have a senior leader sign off the bid. Further windows are expected in 2028/29 and 2029/30, and the government says it expects grant rates to fall as chargers get cheaper.

What it means for your business

For any business that runs vans or lorries from its own yard, this is money towards the part of going electric that vehicle grants don't cover. On an illustrative installation quote of £50,000, a 60% grant would be £30,000, leaving £20,000 for the business to fund. The vehicles themselves are covered separately by the zero emission van and truck grant.

The carbon difference is large. Take an illustrative firm running five average-sized diesel vans that each cover 20,000 miles a year. Under the 2026 government factors, those 100,000 miles are 41.39 tonnes CO2e of Scope 1. The same miles in battery electric vans charged at the depot come to 6.86 tonnes, now in Scope 2: a cut of 34.53 tonnes, or about 83%. That is the kind of measured cut a Carbon Reduction Plan or a tender response can point to.

What to do now

  • Check your grid connection first. The scheme asks for evidence of grid capacity at the depot. Ask your network operator early, because upgrades can take longer than the window.
  • Plan all your sites in one bid. You only get one application this window, so include every depot you expect to electrify by 31 March 2028.
  • Apply early. Bids are taken first come, first served unless the round is oversubscribed. The listing suggests the scheme's technical partner, WSP, can help with project design, and offers a pre-assessment questionnaire.
  • Record the miles. Keep mileage for each van by fuel type before and after the switch, so the saving shows up in your report. For company cars, our electric vs petrol car tool compares the running cost and carbon of a switch.